Jefferson labeled this building as "k. a necessary house of wood in the 1796 Mutual Assurance Plat.

Digital model of a "Necessary" on Mulberry Row. Image by Rendershpere, LLC.

This privy was “a necessary house of wood 8. feet square” located directly next to the nailery.  Although little is known about the structure, it probably held chamber pots or buckets that were emptied elsewhere.  The Frenchman Pierre S. DuPont de Nemours likely referred to it when he visited Monticello in 1816, complaining of the “disagreeable” privy located “three hundred paces in the garden.”  Jefferson often paid enslaved people “gratuities” or tips to clean this privy and five others in or near the main house.